How to Activate a Chapter

New Chapters

Never had a chapter of the Tri-M Music Honor Society at your school before? Don’t worry, registering is easy! Just send in your chapter activation form and activation fee to the Tri-M® staff.

New chapters can activate at any time during the school year.

Returning Chapters

If you had an active chapter last year, you still need to activate your chapter each year by sending in your activation form and activation fee. If you don’t, your chapter will remain inactive for the current school year, and you won’t be able to order member pins and certificates for your students. And they deserve the recognition, so please remember to activate your chapter!

To avoid late fees, returning chapters must send in their activation forms by October 29.

Tri-M Chapter Activation for the 2007–2008 School Year

Congratulations on deciding to honor your outstanding music students with membership in the Tri-M Music Honor Society for the 2008–2009 school year!

The activation fee for the 2007–2008 school year is $100.

To activate your chapter, simply print out the PDF version of the activation form and mail it in with your payment (payment options include credit card, check, or PO).

Questions? Call MENC Member Services at 800-828-0229 or e-mail mbrserv@menc.org.

How to Select Members

Because Tri-M® is an honor society rather than a social club, members can’t just join, they have to be chosen by their advisor. All honor societies have standards—also called criteria—that students have to meet before they can become members.

So, what does it take to be a Tri-M member? Advisors pick students who show outstanding scholarship, leadership, service, and character to honor them for their accomplishments.

Here’s an explanation of the criteria, which your advisor can choose to raise with notice to the chapter members:

Music Participation

You have to be (or have been) in a school music ensemble or class for at least one semester of the current school year.

Grades/Scholarship

You have to have maintained a B average grade (or equivalent) in music, as well as at least a C average grade in your other classes during the last semester.

Leadership

Your advisor can consider any school or community activity that you’ve been actively involved in.

Service

Your advisor can consider any school or community service activity you’ve been a part of, as long as whatever you did, you did for someone else and didn’t get money or receive any other kind of payment for it.

Character

Your advisor is looking for members who demonstrate respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Examples include being responsible, following school policies and procedures, being respectful of others and their property, being honest, being punctual, and being patient. Talk to your advisor to find out what the guidelines are for your chapter regarding character—these guidelines should be included in the chapter bylaws.

And here’s good news for all of you who are members of the National Honors Society or the National Junior Honors Society—if you also participate in a school music ensemble or class, you’ve met the minimum requirements for membership. So, contact your advisor to see if you can become a member!

Types of Members

Active Members

To be members, students must be participants in the classes designated by the chapter advisor as making the students eligible for Tri-M®. Students must have been in the school for at least one semester. Advisors can make exceptions for transfer students if the student provides a positive recommendation from a previous music teacher.

The chapter advisor selects members based on the national guidelines. Once selected, students must continue to meet the national guidelines and local chapter requirements in order to remain members of Tri-M. Active Junior Division members may join Senior Division chapters as continuing members without going through the selection process if they do so in their first year at the senior high school level.

Alumni

Active members become alumni, or permanent members, when they graduate. While they are not involved in chapter meetings or events, they do remain members for the rest of their lives. Alumni pins are available in the Tri-M Catalog.

Honorary Members

Chapters may give honorary memberships to guest speakers, school officials, principals, teachers, Tri-M advisors, adults, or students with disabilities who are unable to fully meet the active member criteria. Other students are not eligible for honorary membership. Chapter advisors award honorary membership to recognize an individual’s achievement or outstanding service to the Tri-M chapter. Honorary members are not involved in chapter meetings or other events. Honorary membership packets are available in the Tri-M Catalog.

Who’s Who in Your Tri-M Chapter

There are a lot of roles to fill in a Tri-M chapter, from new member to president. Here’s a look at the structure of a typical chapter.

Advisor and Co-Advisors

Your advisor is key. A member of the music staff of your school, your advisor takes responsibility for everything your chapter does in the eyes of your school administration, your community, and the national Tri-M office.

Your advisor may, if needed, appoint any other adult to be a co-advisor for the chapter. Co-advisors help chapter advisors plan chapter activities and run events.

Student Officers

Student officers also help the chapter advisor, but each officer has a particular role within the chapter.

The president helps members reach chapter goals and the goals of the honor society by presiding at meetings (hence the name “president“) and by helping conduct the induction ceremony and election of officers for the following school year.

The vice president presides at meetings when the president is absent and assists the president as needed. The vice president can also act as the chairperson for a variety of chapter projects.

The secretary takes care of a lot of the chapter paperwork. The secretary writes letters for the chapter, keeps a record of who attends meetings, and takes meeting minutes.

The treasurer handles the chapter’s money, including payments for membership pins and cards, all money donated to the chapter, and keeps track of receipts. The chapter advisor looks over these records through the year to make sure the accounts are in order.

The historian keeps a record of all programs presented by the chapter, including pictures and newspaper articles; serves as the publicity chair (the person who gets the word out to the school and community about what your chapter is up to); and is responsible for putting together your chapter’s Chapter of the Year entry.

The advisor can select other officers to meet particular chapter needs. The above descriptions can also be changed by the advisor at any time.

Executive Committee

Some active members will also be members of the executive committee for their chapter. What’s an executive committee? The group of people who make decisions about what your chapter does. It’s made up of your chapter advisor (and any co-advisors selected by the advisor to help with chapter activities) and student officers.